These are the lessons my late teenage years and early 20s have taught
me. You learn lessons at every stage of your life so when I'm 30 I'll
probably look back at this and laugh at how little I knew but for now I'll share what I know.

"Bad Boys"
We
all know them, the guys who have a bad reputation but for some reason
that attracts us to them. These are the guys who leave us crying on our
best friend's shoulder wondering why they treat us so badly even though
we knew from the start that they would. These guys are not sexy or
mysterious they are just dicks, stay well clear! There is a sweet geeky
guy who you don't give the time of day in favour of the "bad boys", he
is the one who will adore you and treat you like you deserve.

Parents
During
the early teenage years your parents are the ultimate enemy, everything
they do is in order to make your life more difficult than it already
is. But later you realise that they are in fact just these poor people
who have been given one of the most difficult jobs in the world with
little or no experience. Yes they make mistakes but those mistakes do
have your best interests at heart.

Dramas
I
went through a faze of loving drama, fights, arguments, they gave me a
strange addictive rush but like all addictions it eventually leaves you
drained emotionally and physically. Dramas aren't fun, they are, for the
most part, pointless, distracting, upsetting and a stupid waste of
time. There is nothing wrong or boring about a drama-free life.

Bitching
Ugh,
I hate how bitchy I use to be. It is not an attractive quality it
leaves you bitter and angry and if the tables were turned you would hate
to hear what nasty things people said about you behind your back.
Follow the rule "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say
anything at all". Of course they're will always be people who annoy or
hurt you but why keep talking and thinking about people like this. Just
roll your eyes, shake your head and move on.

You (Part 1)
Putting
yourself, your life, your goals, your happiness once in a while is not
selfish. It is important and necessary, spending all your time on other
people's lives means you have no time to work on and enjoy your own.

You (Part 2)
Don't
let people make you feel like you are not important and never degrade
yourself for the amusement of others. You are the person who you have
the longest relationship with and you would never allow your partner to
put themselves down in front of others, so why would you ever allow
yourself to? If people can't see your worth or take you for granted you
have to either speak up or walk away.

Intelligence
Intelligence
is sexy. It makes me so sad seeing people who I know full well to be
really clever pretend to be dumb in order to seem "cute". One of the
best feelings is being able to have an intelligent conversation with
someone.

Mistakes
Everybody makes mistakes.
This may seem like an obvious one but we spend far too much time
beating ourselves up about the stupid things we did in our past. Sadly
mistakes are how we learn ,of course when you do something you feel
bad about give yourself a little telling off but then just learn the lesson
and move on.

So these are some of the lessons that my early 20s
have taught me, I have learnt more in the last two years than I ever
have before and though some of it comes from bad experiences I am
thankful for it all. Please let me know what you thought about this post with a comment.